The present invention relates to an apparatus and methods for cleaning hopper barges, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for more efficiently cleaning and transferring residual solid particulate from hopper barges following unloading. The invention addresses deficiencies of existing hopper barge cleaning protocols, including particularly the difficulty and time required to access and clean a large array of hopper barges when gathered on a river or other water way, as well as environmentally correct means of disposing of water used in the cleaning process. The present invention also relates to an apparatus and method for reclaiming coal from coal barges following offload in a more efficient and environmentally friendly procedure.
The inside hull of river and other convention hopper barges comprises a large hold that can be filled with dry bulk particulate material, such as grains, cement powder, and coal, for transport. Hopper barges are also filled with larger solids such as coal, and with solid/water slurries. After material has been unloaded from the hold, the hold typically requires cleaning to remove residual particulate material, coal, or slurry, particularly if the hold is to be filled with a different type of material. The cleaning process is labor intensive, as will be described.
When a fleet of so-called xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d barges must be cleaned, the existing method most typically employed requires each barge, or a small group of barges, to be motored (e.g. tugboat) to a centralized cleaning station or site. Current methods of removing residual, solid particulate from solid cargo hopper barges during post-offload cleaning employ portable vacuum machines (including on floating platforms), mechanized collection (e.g., small front-end loaders placed in hold; crane barge offloading) and/or manual disposal (e.g., sweeping and shoveling) of the material at a dock facility or into an adjacent hopper barge. As a fleet of barges is cleaned, the equipment must be moved manually and/or crane lifted from barge to barge. Another method uses a dock-based central cleaning plant, which requires that each barge be motored, such as by tugboat, to the cleaning plant, which can be expensive.
There is thus a need for an apparatus and methods that can be delivered to a fleet, individual, or array of dirty hopper barges and used to efficiently clean said fleet or array of dirty hopper barges.
It is an object of the invention to provide a cleaning plant for cleaning dirty hopper barges that is mounted on a rolling platform, thereby facilitating use of the entire length of the hold of the disposal hopper barge for disposal of waste.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cleaning plant for cleaning dirty hopper barges that provides for both vacuum and pressurized water cleaning of the dirty hopper barges.
It is another object of the invention to greatly improve the efficiency of the process of cleaning dirty hopper barges by enabling an array of dirty barges to be cleaned at one time with minimum movement of the dirty barges.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide methods of using the cleaning plant to clean holds of dirty hopper barges.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention shall become apparent from the following general and preferred description of the invention.
Accordingly, the present invention consists of an apparatus and methods for cleaning hopper-type cargo barges employed in the transport of solid particulate and low viscosity liquids following cargo offload and as preparation for their return to service. To expedite the process of cleaning and returning to service large fleets of hopper barges, a floating cleaning and maintenance plant is described that can be easily moved among, and simultaneously clean multiple hopper barges. The floating cleaning vessel can be readily adapted from a conventional, solid cargo hopper barge by installation of the plant on a rolling platform. The rolling platform can be adapted from an existing roll cover. By use of a rolling platform, the plant can be moved along the length of the vessel, rolling along the standard roll cover track, expanding its range of operation. Movement of the wheeled roller cover is provided by mechanical assistance, either by cable and winch or other means (e.g., direct drive). In addition to existing roller covers, which are widely available but typically require reinforcement, other steel skids can be designed for this application. In addition to providing a platform for the plant, the cleaning vessel provides an empty hold to collect residual solid particulate during the cleaning operation.
The apparatus described in the present invention consists of a vacuum cleaning and pressurized water generating plant which can be mounted on an empty hopper-type cargo barge, the collective assembly serving as a floating cleaning plant that can easily access and clean single or multiple hopper barges at almost any location on a waterway. The plant consists of a vacuum system, pressurized water system and maintenance equipment including welding supplies. The plant provides systems to vacuum transfer solid particulate or water-dispersed slurries of particulate from the holds of the xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d barges to the empty hold of the cleaning vessel, pressurized water for washing down the holds of the xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d barges and pressurized water to drive siphon-type vacuum pumps that can be used to remove and discharge small quantities of materials into the river (e.g., environmentally acceptable materials such as grains) or an adjacent collection point.
The floating cleaning plant can be easily positioned among, and clean, multiple hopper-type cargo barges at their existing mooring or location on a waterway. This method eliminates the typical time and manpower-consuming method of individually moving single barges to a fixed, land-based cleaning station. Once positioned among multiple barges the cleaning plant is designed to be mechanically moved along the length of the vessel (i.e., from bow to stern) to permit it to sequentially service, via placement of the vacuum and pressurized water hoses provided by the plant, into the holds of an array of assembled xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d barges. This method permits the simultaneous servicing of multiple barges and reduces the number of times a fleet of xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d barges must be moved during the cleaning process.
The cleaning plant provides two methods of vacuum removal of residual solids from cargo barges: (1) a vacuum pump with large bore (e.g., 8 inch diameter) flexible hoses for extracting coal and other larger size solids and solid/water slurries, and (2) a pressurized water-driven syphon pump that can be used to extract finer size particulate solids such as grains. The stationary vacuum system, however, provides greater vacuum power enabling it to evacuate large solids (e.g., coal) and slurries to the cleaning vessel. While the stationary vacuum method is ideally suited to cleaning hopper barges immediately adjacent to the cleaning vessel, such as coal barges, the water-driven siphon method can be used to service barges assembled a longer distance from the plant as would be the case when servicing a group of barges assembled in parallel with the cleaning vessel. Thus, an advantage of the water-driven siphon vacuum system is its ability to project a vacuum source a significantly greater distance from the cleaning vessel than the fixed vacuum system, thus expanding the plant""s effective operating range significantly.
The vacuum system is typically installed with two or more vacuum hoses to allow simultaneous vacuum cleaning of multiple barges. Solid particulate or water-dispersed solid particulate drawn into the plant is ejected vertically downwards through a chute into the hold of the barge to which the skid-mounted plant is installed on. Discharge of water that collects in the hold is provided by positive-displacement pumps located, in a typical example, at the bow and stern of the vessel.
Means are provided in the present invention to eliminate water in the hold, typically collected during vacuum cleaning of solid/water slurries, by overboard disposal via immersion pumps installed in the vessel hold. Suction piping with inlet filters is installed in the hold with discharge directed overboard through flexible hose or fixed pipe. This extends the capacity of the hold and use of the cleaning vessel, as well as reduces the weight of the contents that must eventually be disposed. Once the hold is full the vessel can be offloaded by conventional means or the plant can be removed and installed on an empty hopper barge of similar size. Pad eyes are mounted along the periphery of the skid which enable it to be crane lifted and re-located onto another vessel.
The pressurized water system of the cleaning and utility plant consists of one or more water pumps that draw water from the river or waterway in which the vessel resides. Single or multiple flexible rubber or plastic hoses (e.g., 2-4 inch diameter) can be attached to manifolds to direct pressurized water for cleaning the xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d cargo barges, such as directing and collecting solid particulate into one area of a hold for vacuum extraction.
The cleaning and utility plant also contains welding and other repair equipment that can used to make quick repairs of the cargo barges while they are undergoing cleaning or on other occasions.
A pair of such rolling platforms and cleaning plants may be provided, to thereby permit independent operation on either side of the disposal hopper barge.
The present invention greatly improves the efficiency of the cleaning process by enabling an array of barges to be cleaned at one time with minimum movement of the fleet barges. Specifically, the cleaning vessel of the present invention, with a multiplicity of vacuum sources and pressurized water outlets, can gain access to multiple vessels at one time. By providing access to a vacuum and pressurized water source at multiple locations an array of vessels can be assembled about the hopper barge at one time significantly reducing the frequency with which xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d barges must be re-positioned during the cleaning of multiple vessels. This in turn reduces the time, man-power requirements and fuel consumption of the cleaning process.
The cleaning vessel of the present invention also provides means of collecting, and reclaiming a large quantity of residual coal from coal barges. Residual coal from the holds of numerous coal barges can be vacuum collected as water slurries into the hold of the cleaning vessel. The present invention provides a means to increase the volume of coal in the hold by disposing of the collected water, once the water separates from the coal, by filtering and pumping it overboard.